Adult Intimate Relationships and Psychological Adjustment

This study explored relations among perceived acceptance and behavioral control by intimate partners, remembrances of parents’ acceptance and behavioral control in childhood, and adults’ psychological adjustment. The study was conducted on 98 American adults (50 men and 48 women) between ages 18 and 50 (mean 26 years). Measures used were the Adult version of the Parental Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire for Mothers and Fathers(Adult PARQ/Control: Mother and Father); Intimate Partner Acceptance-Rejection/Control Questionnaire (IPAR/CQ); and, the Adult version of the Personality Assessment Questionnaire (Adult PAQ). Results showed significant positive correlations between psychological adjustment and perceived partner acceptance and parental acceptance for both women and men. Results also showed significant negative correlations between psychological adjustment and perceived partner control and parental control for both women and men. Regression analyses, however, revealed a significant independent effect of only paternal acceptance (but not of maternal and partner acceptance) on the psychological adjustment of men. Regression analyses also revealed significant independent effects of both paternal and maternal acceptance (but not partner acceptance) on the psychological adjustment of women.